Tag: canyon surfboards

Greetings, Shredderz! As always, here’s a collection of vintage surfboards that have been listed for sale online recently, including a lovely Skip Frye K Model thruster. Usually I like to link directly to sale links, but in the case of this edition, not all of the boards are still for sale, and some just might be more fun as mysteries. Anyway, keep scrolling for some selections.

Skip Frye K Model Thruster 8’6″ (No Longer Listed)

This board was listed for sale on Craigslist in San Diego and the asking price was $2,850. Yes, you will have to pay an arm and a leg for one of Skip’s boards on the open market. The Skip Frye K Model was developed in the late Seventies. I have probably linked to The Surfer’s Journal feature on Skip’s boards more than any other article, but nonetheless, it’s worth checking out. According to TSJ, the K Model was created in conjunction with a local San Diego surfer named Timmy Kessler, although many incorrectly attribute the board to Barry Kanaiaupuni, who was in Frye’s graduating high school class! This board is just too pretty.

Canyon Seventies Single Fin

Sorry, no hints yet as to whether this board has been listed, although all I will say is that it’s up somewhere on the internet. Like Skip Frye, Rusty Preisendorfer is another San Diego surfboard shaping luminary. Early in Rusty’s career he shaped for Canyon Surfboards, among some other labels. Sadly, the Canyon name is now being slapped on pop-outs, but that doesn’t diminish the coolness of the board above. I’m not 100% sure if it was shaped by Rusty himself. The board isn’t in perfect condition but I love the colors and that awesome gradient Canyon logo.

Here’s a neat Greg Liddle Smoothie, measuring in at 7’11”, with a 2+1 fin setup. The seller is asking $900. I can’t say this is a fantastic price, but it is a great opportunity to look at an earlier Liddle shaped by Greg himself. There’s a photo of the typically hyper detailed signature on the board (I don’t even understand half of the dimensions listed.)

There is no question this board has seen some finer days, but I am a sucker for all things Transition Era, including the mighty v bottom design. If you can’t handle all the scratches and weird patches on the board above, then check out Gene Cooper’s Instagram, where he has been glassing some truly gorgeous modern v bottom boards lately.

First of all, Shredderz, I’d like to offer a sincere apology. I know that many of you — perhaps even more than ten! — come to this blog on Thursday nights for a lighthearted look at vintage surf advertisements as part of the Sagas of Shred series. And while we have a fresh ad to share, I’m afraid this is a very serious matter. Look closely at the Rip Curl Tom Curren ad above.

Sharp eyed readers might notice that Rip Curl have misspelled Tom Curren’s name. I can’t say I’m thrilled about that — I mean, it’s not like Curren is the greatest surfer in California history, the state that helped shape surf culture as we know it — but whatever, it’s just a single letter.

No, the line in the sand is the fact that the Rip Curl ad pictured above depicts Tom Curren as a goofy foot.

I’m sorry. But I find this extremely offensive.

Really, Rip Curl? Did Curren spend his formative years dissecting Rincon on his backhand, like an earlier version of Bobby Martinez? Had I misremembered Curren’s indelible cutback at perfect Backdoor on a logo-less board all this time?

I can’t even focus on the hilarious copy — the earnest, corny “Rip Curl Does it Vest!” tagline, or the fact the product was actually named Aggrolite — or even the presence of a young Danny Kwock, alongside East Coast legend Wes Laine. I was, however, able to put my indignation aside long enough to note that Laine is toting a sweet-looking Canyon thruster, which was likely shaped by Rusty Preisendorfer.

Cover for the magazine in which the Rip Curl Tom Curren ad originally ran. Photo via Surfer Magazine

The ironic thing is the cover of the magazine in which the ad originally rad — August 1983, Vol 24 No 8 — features Curren, too!

The only acceptable explanation here is that Curren simply surfed this wave switch and Rip Curl neglected to mention it. Otherwise, I’m afraid that running a wetsuit ad with Curren as a goofy foot is like marketing “Terminator 2” as a romantic comedy. I like to think of myself as a pretty laid-back guy, but a good thirty five years after this ad originally ran in Surfer Magazine, I’m now considering a full-blown boycott to express my outrage over this Rip Curl Tom Curren ad.

As always, please visit us again next Thursday night, where we will have another vintage surf advertisement. Hopefully next week’s entry in Sagas of Shred manages to do justice to one of the greatest surfers of all time.